The Changemakers

It’s time to re-evaluate what you see now, and one of the key steps to change the way women are perceived in the media and advertising is shedding all the pre-conceived notions about beauty in the fashion world. Project #ShowUs is Dove’s powerful all-women coalition comprising of the world’s largest stock photo library created to offer an inclusive vision of beauty. To drive home the point, we turn the spotlight on five talented designers, who, via their work are breaking these stereotypes and ensuring that there is no ‘one’ definition of beauty

- Barry Rodgers

URVASHI KAUR

It’s hard to put a specific cultural tag on the glocal, modern Indian aesthetic of the Urvashi Kaur brand. And, that’s exactly how Kaur, its founder-designer, intends it to be. Her chameleonic appearance is her signature, her hair, a canvas for creativity. Long, short, or even asymmetric – the designer’s hair length and hues have changed over the year, like the piercings that dot her ears. Her personal style is reflective of her work. “Being a married woman with short hair and into fashion, I often find myself in conservative mediums like weddings and family gatherings where I’m looked upon as this oddball. I’m actually coloring my hair white,” she says.

Kaur is among a handful of designers who are always pushing the needle forward in terms of beauty and diversity when it comes to casting for campaigns and the runway. “When I cast models, it’s always been about celebrating the modern Indian beauty. And when it comes to that, I always turn the spotlight on diversity because it’s all about embracing your own individuality, size or color and not about trying to fit yourself into a societal norm,” she says.

Kaur admits that when she started out a decade ago, she made a conscious decision to work with Indian women only. “Early on in my career, I had the option of casting foreign models. They came at a fraction of the price. But, I wanted to use my power to change perceptions and to make people aspire for a different kind of beauty. I’m quite proud of the fact that I’ve been one of only a handful of designers who have included duskier women in their campaigns,” she adds.

#SHOWUS MORE WOMEN WHO CHAMPION DIVERSITY